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An anonymous reader writes "For those of you who think technology and more importantly software should be open and shareable, the annual celebration of Software Freedom Day has opened its registration and you have about 10 days to get a free team pack to help you with your own event organization. SFD represents about 500 teams worldwide organizing events to discuss about the importance, benefits and usage of Free and Open Source Software on the same day: September 17th this year! It's also an opportunity to preach to your local community and gives them ideas and reasons about why they should care and use FOSS."

I am a huge fan of open source and Free Software but beyond some higher profile projects (Kernel, KDE, Python...) it is hard to rally people to work for free. For every open source success there are ten projects that just die from inertia / lack of interest.

To launch a successful event of any kind can take months of planning and orgaization. You really need to be thinking at least a year in advance.

You need to stay ahead of the game.

Your campus event on the 17th comes too late.

School isn't out quite yet, but Microsoft already has an ace up its sleeve when it comes to this fall 's back-to-school shopping season. The company announced that anyone buying a Windows 7 PC worth $699 or more will automatically get an Xbox 360 Arcade system for free, no rebates involved. That's right --- completely free.

All you need to do is buy a new computer and provide your.edu e-mail address. If you're shopping at a brick and mortar Microsoft Store or Best Buy, just flash your student ID, and you'll walk out with your new computer and an XBox 360. The promo will run between May 22nd and September 3rd in the United States, and Canadian and French shoppers will get in on the fun later in the summer.

FOSS is a great initiative and one of the best things is that proprietary software doesn't have to die for FOSS to succeed, it can all come down to who has the better product but to have the better product you need more than just great engineers, you need great designers and marketers, you also need to avoid this FOSS stereotype [youtube.com].